Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1887-01-21
GOV. ORMsBEE's ADDRESS
At the North Ferrisburgh Meeting of the
Board of Agriculture.

ing was well attended, the nall beng
crowded The meeting was addressed by
His EXcellency Gov. Ormsbee, who spoke
as follows.
1t is fitting that the chief magistrate of
the State should he present on an occasion
like this and meet and become acquainted
with the farming community. | come
here as Il member of this Board of Agri-
culture, but | come not to speak but to
listen to what they and the farmers of this
vicinity have to say You would not eX-
pect me to enter into any of the details of
the art of agriculture. leave that to men
of more practical knowledge of the sub
lect 1t is for the working members of
the Board to take up these questions of
the every day life of the farm, and not
only to interest their audience, but to in
struct them. If they fail in this they have
failed in the object for which the Board
was created. | do not say that it is not
also their duty to interest the farmer, for
making the farmer take an interest ia his
farm and his work is an important part of
their duty. II must not be thought that
| am a total stranger to the practical
workings of the farm. | was born and
brought up farmers boy Until | was
of age pitched the hay both ways, but
still nope have good sense enough not
to undertake to instruct you on matters
of farm work.
Let me say that the mission of the State
Board of Agriculture and its expected SER
vice deserve care and attention at your
hands. My profession lies apart from
farming, but have noticed that both our
lawyers and our farmers are good fault
nnderS There Is no business so easy as
criticism, none that can be carried on with
50 small a capital. | expect that you will
fairly criticise the Board Have no mercy
Oh them il they deserve no mercy but re
a. | H. TII - tif.tS : lar
Al the last Legislature the fate of the
Board hung on the vote of one man. He
saved the Board to the farmers and vet he
was not farmer but a professional man.
Why should this have been Soy Vermont
is an agricultural State there is no other
interest i'll the State that can approach
it in Importance The answer to the
question whether or not the State ought
to support Board of Agriculture de
ponds on the answer that is given to
another question: namely do the agriculture
al interests of the state, need the fostering
care, encouragement and support of the
State Formerly they did not The
United States was once not 50 crowded as
1t Is now. But look at it as it is to day.
W e are the strongest and most llOurishing
country on the earth. Vermont has done
her full share toward tins development
She has sent her best blood and bone, to he
come competitors in the west, with
their elder brothers in Vermont They
compete with us on unequal grounds
they have new, rich soil we have lett
to us the old homestead that has been
cropped and Impoverished for nearly a
century Our soil does not now us form
erly respond to the hoe and the scythe.
Unless we exercise greater care than
formerly i'll the methods of handling the
SOIL and the implements of agriculture,
we cannot successfully compete with
our western brethren. There Is much to
be accomplished by the eastern
farmer III the way of experiment by
study of the changing conditions, and the
new and more remunerative methods of
carrying on our farms. This is why urge
the necessity of an agricultural board no
matter how much it may cost. And now,
farmers, | want to say in this connection
that you do scant justice to yourselves. You
90 to Montpelier; yon are a large majority
of the members of both houses; you are
active, working practical farmers YOU
give literally to schools, to the militia, to
every purpose until you come to agricul-
ture and then you become stingy. You
don seem to take hold of the fact that
agriculture has three times the Importance
OF any other interest in the State and
should he proportlonally supported. You
give 81, 600 for the building of Il bridge to
accommodate the people of IA limited sec
ton of the State, and then when you take
up this great agricultural interest you APP
pioplldtt iOl llS support Only S-oUU. III
Is unbecomlng to appoint a board to in
struct You in matters of farm work: to re-
qure them to print a report which shall
contain their best thoughts and experience
and expect it to be done and well done
on this small sum. If You think Il little
you Will see now inadequate the supply of
these reports is TO the demand The re-
port for 1856 is a valuable book, All en-
cyclopedia of information on farm topics
and yet the number that can be printed
from this small appropriation is not suf-
nclent to give even one copy to each
school district. 1t should be placed in the
hands of every farmer, and the farmers of
the Legislature should see to it that large
enough edition Is printed to enable this to
be done even If 1t requires an apprOpria-
ton of $4,000. | have many application $
for these reports but there are none left
to supply the demand Under the pres
ent circumstances, then, there is no way
for the farmer to get this information eX-
cept by such meetings as these. | see by
the papers and have received many per-
sonal assurances that the present board
of agriculture have everywhere found IA
welcome and the meetings have shown a
lively interest in the cause. All concerned
Will receive benefit by an interchange of
ideas, swapping of experiences" Ask
questions of the members of the board
and get all the information you can from
them to put into practical use next season.
Inc criticism nave made Tonight of
the farmers requires some modification.
| The last Legislature made Il new depart
ure III agricultural affairs. BY an almost
unanimous vote they appropriated S35OC
dollars to establish State agricultural
experiment station. | hope every farmer
VIII feel that he has an interest in that
institution. Find out whether it has vir-
tue worth preserving and if ii has, foster
1t. If it and if this board of agriculture
are as successful as | hope and expect
them to be, they will collect much valu
able information, and this should be dis
lrlbuted throughout the State with a lib
eral hand
You have mere in this valley soil OF
great fertility; group OF towns exceeded
by none in the State; you rank among
the first III the production OF hay, dairy
products and fruit, snd both the board
and myself feel that we are benefited by
meeting the agriculturists of this vicinity
GOV. Ormsbee's remarks We're received
| with CDrliul aDDlauSe